Hot sunny days

Up hill morning walks, to get the paper, are the way we start the day. We have usually decided where our daily jaunt will be and on Wednesday we headed to a National Trust house called Hardwick House and learnt about who built it and why.

Bess, a farmers daughter, was married to a landowner's son at 15, he was 13. His father was dying and if his son wasn't married the property would have been claimed by the government. Unfortunately she was widowed by 16 but that gave her some wealth. The short version of the story is that she was married four times and widowed each time but each man was more wealthy than the last! She also became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth 1 and was also involved in having Mary Queen of Scots at her place whilst Mary was under house arrest.

Bess eventually had Hardwick house built for herself.

 

  The house was very interesting and the grounds were made up of lovely gardens.

In the afternoon, on our return to the cottage, we walked along the river where it was shady and cool. The walk led us across fields with sheep and cattle who were also searching for shade.

Yesterday we decided to take another mode of transport and hired bikes. We had a couple of hours cycling along what was once a steam railway line. It was hot and dusty but riding through the tunnels dropped your temperature quickly. We passed cotton mills, lime kilns and lovely cottages. We had a great time apart from the pressure placed on our posterior!!

 It’s been great fun but my next stop is London and an early start tomorrow to catch the Eurostar to Avignon.